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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

I'm not digging Raisins and Almonds or He's Got the Whole World, so I have secretly snuck on to The Entertainer, that is going quite well, but I know I have to go back to the two I skipped as there is something to be learned on both of them.

I just don't like the sound of Raisins and Almonds, and I don't dislike HGTWW so much, but I am struggling a little with that left hand rythm, it doesn't seem to be hitting quite right, any advice on that?

I agree, the book is excellent! Have been playing most of the day on Saturday and quite a bit yesterday (well, someone has to do all chores around the hose as well...). I enjoyed most of the tunes, but really don't like 'When the Saints go marching in'. Sorry!

I am at about page 65, but I know that some of the tunes are not perfect and keep coming back to revisit them. I have also did the first tune from 'Alfred's Greatest Hits Level1' - 'Love me tender'. I am really enjoying it!!!!!! Hopefully the novelty won't wear off soon!

I agree, I don't like When The Saints Go Marching In, but have enjoyed most of the others so far. It's almost nailed, just hesitate when doing that F chord on the third line, so that bothers me. Am sick of it though and trying to get it to perfection. And I'm sure the neighbors are sick of it too (it's the theme song to a football team here who were in the grand final and lost on Saturday - anyone in Australia would understand, so it feels almost cruel to be playing it over and over ) Am up to about page 50, but didn't get as much done on the weekend as I wanted to, so am getting up early to ensure I do it before work each morning. The technician is yet to come out and setup/tune the piano which will happen in the next few days, whilst it's reasonably in tune, I think the lower octaves are a bit out. Have moved onto the G position section, and when it says to play an octave lower it sounds odd. So either it's the piano or my playing. Hmmm.

A teacher is always nice for starters, I didn't get one but wish I could have afford just for those first months but whats done is done.

Last songs in the book is really hard for me :S Still trying to get Scarborough fair but haven't had all that much to practice it lately but its hard. Been repeating the same 3 measures probably hundreds of times now without getting it down properly when I try to play the song in its full.

Also tried Raisins and Almonds in a somewhat non-serious attempt but got bored and couldn't put hands together anyways.

Checked out The Entertainer as well just because I was very curious, unsurprisingly I didn't even know where to start. This is played in C right? Ends on C, so it can't be a minor. meaning first note is an F one octave over middle c? Or have I even forgotten where the c on c scale is placed on the notes?

Oh well its not like I'm in a hurry, 3 songs to go before it but its getting frustrated when I can't even do something a s simple as that.

Hey, you should stick with "Raisins and Almonds", at first I also hated it but after a while it's really a fun piece to play, especially these broken chords. Once you get it, play it with a piano pad sound if you can, it's really beautiful. Good luck.

All is well - still practicing 5:30 to 6 in the morning, and 30 minutes on a cheap digital in my office at noontime. Evenings just seem to be too busy, with kids' music practice, homework, sports, etc.

Leaves are bright orange in southern New England - fall seems a bit early this year. My favorite time of year.

Can't wait to try Raisins and Almonds, and the other tunes that people like towards the end of the book.

Seems like many is a fan of Raisins and Almonds and I'm the only one who can't stand it :p

I don't plan on skipping it, it has important lessons so once Scarborough fair is down I will try it again. I'm tempted to skip that gospel hymn or whatever at the end got his hands blah blah, just can't be bothered to look up the title :p since I don't like that song either but I've looked at it and it has some very valuable lessons so ill just have to get through with that in time as well.

The good thing with this book, and the piano is that I know that these are pieces I should be able to play. I mean, sometimes ill be stuck like on chiapanecas on some parts earlier while playing and almost felt I couldn't get it down at all but with time it just says click and down it goes.

Kind of same happened with Scarborough fair had 2 parts I was really struggling with had to stop up everytime repeating the same few measures again and again and again not progressing. Next day I play the one part flawlessly when going through the song. So as long as I practice problem parts somehow I think it'll solve itself if I can play it at least very slowly.

Still 1 problematic measure with it, but it'll come down like the others. And I haven't touched the last measure yet either. Though it feels nice when you get down a tricky measure. So just get that 1 measure down and the end its down. Though dynamics are a bit sketchy atm so its gonna need a lot of effort before it actually sounds as nice as it should.

I am still on Book 1 but have bought up to Book 3. Anybody know how does the grading in Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course Book 1-3 translate to ABRSM level? I looked through the exam guide for ABRSM level 1 and seems not all topics covered in Alfred's Book 1. So curious to know how it compares in terms of level.

I would be interested to know answer as well to the question that andellie posted.

I have got my first lesson arranged for next Wednesday!!!! Can't wait. In the meantime, I keep practising from the book, and I have managed to play alpine melody last night. So, I am pretty pleased with myself! I feel it is getting better day on day, so hopefully I can turn the next page tonight!

I just finished Alpine Melody too! I quite enjoy that piece actually. I love how I first look at the piece and fumble through it and after a few plays it starts to come together. Is great having the CD too, to hear how it's SUPPOSED to be done first. I'm loving this book, it's making DIY so much easier than I thought it would be, although I really wish I had a teacher to guide me a bit, but never mind. I realise when I am done with these books there's going to be some bad habits that will need correcting. Good decision to get a teacher gintarec though if you are able to do so from the start.

Congrats gintarec and Oz Leikela! I'm still muddling along. As Dilbert stated, went back to Raisins and Almonds and am starting to enjoy it a little, its got a strange but eerie rift when you add in the C#. Just for the heck of it, I did a sight read through on Amazing Grace, that one is gonna take some work. I'm going to wait until I have all the previous ones down good before I try that again, was just curious to see how it went on a first pass through.

Got the Alfred's Greatest Christmas Hits in the mail on Monday, now I just need to pick a few to work on. The problem is this, I ordered book 1 because I actually want to have a few songs I can play by the holidays, but by using book one, some of the songs are so simplified that even when I nail it its a dissapointment. Yet, I was afraid if I ordered level 2, I wouldn't have enough time to work out but a couple of pieces. I think I'll pick out a few from the book 1 and then get book 2 and pick out a couple of special pieces that I would enjoy spending more time on to get down. Does anybody have a better suggestion?

Great decision to get a teacher, gintarec. I've played for 4 months before I've got one. I wanted to make sure I'm serious about it first. I think I am, so I decided to bite a bullet, bought the difital piano and got a teacher. I couldn't be happier.

You'rep rogressing really quickly Oz, have you had some earlier experience perhaps playing the piano or other instruments? I don't recall at least going that swift :p I had absolutely no musical experience at all though. Just look forward to Blow the man down that's when you'll have your first real challenge. Shouldn't be too far away.

Finished Scarborough fair yesterday at last managing it perfectly a few times So now its only Raisins and Almonds and He's got the whole world in his hands before the two hardest pieces are left. So hopefully in about a month ill be done with this book, considering the last 2 pieces to take a significant time to master compared to the rest.

At the start I had a goal to finish the first book within a half year, so around New years eve but looks like ill be able to finish it a little earlier than expected.

I played violin for a few years, so I'm pretty good at reading music (not so much the bass line though, that's going back to school days theory). The first half of the book wasn't too difficult, so I'm expecting a huge slow down with the second half. I'm practising about 1.0-1.5 hours per day. I can imagine it'd be FAR harder if I had no musical experience as in your case Quagles, so you're doing fantastic to be so far into the book yourself. My goal is also to finish the book by the end of the year. Can't wait for Greensleaves and The Entertainer! Lots of talk about this Almonds and Raisins so not sure if I should be looking forward to it, or scared of it.

Barb, I got the "Merry Christmas" Book 1, and I too was surprised that many of the songs are so easy - much easier than the Pop Songbook, or Alltime favorites. But it's okay because I don't want to spend a lot of time working up the Christmas pieces when I'm trying to finish the Book 1 lesson book. I want to put all my work and concentration into those, and am willing to take it easy on the Christmas pieces for now.

While a lot of us are nearing the last leg of the book, I see many new faces coming in. Welcome to all the new Alfred starters! This is a journey I'm sure all of you will enjoy

As for the Raisins and Almonds piece, I think it's one of the prettier pieces in the book, and also one of the pieces I picked up easily. I imagine it'll be easy to pick up too for anyone who didn't skip any pieces in between (since there wasn't anything really 'new' in that piece).

Some tips/comments on the later pieces since a few people have asked questions about them:He's Got the Whole World In His Hands: This is a relatively easy piece, basically just an exercise in transposition. All the keys transposed to are familiar. If you know the tune of the song, it's easy to cheat and not really count the syncopated beats. The key here is to keep a steady beat with the left hand which is doing just simple chords over and over so it's not that hard to do. I initially struggled a bit with this because of the syncopated notes in the right hand which means that some notes are not pressed on the beat, then I changed strategy and thought of my left hand as a drum keeping time in a steady beat. That solved the problem.

The Entertainer: This is more challenging than the previous piece, but it's not that hard. Note to Quagles: it starts with a D, not an F. Since it's played an octave higher than written, play it on the 3rd octave from middle C. Like He's Got the Whole World, some RH notes are not pressed to on the beat of the LH ones, but this isn't anything new.

Amazing Grace: The piece I'm currently working on. Being the last song in the book, I also find it the most challenging. If you skipped a lot of pieces, I think it's in this piece where the underdeveloped technique will show itself the most. Not that it'll be impossible to play, but I think it might take longer to master since you will be forced to develop the techniques right there, which were presumably developed earlier. For example, O Sole Mio introduces the glissando, so if you haven't perfected playing a smooth glissando in that piece, you will have to do it with Amazing Grace since the glissed notes is a recurring theme in the triplets. The most challenging (and most exciting) for me is that the left hand moves around a lot. I'm now working on smoothing the transitions when changing hand positions, which is all the time! I find this song very calming and I can't wait to polish it and show it to my teacher next week

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Finished: Alfred Bk 1 / Currently on: a bunch of pop & classical piecesWorking on: Czerny 599 and Christmas piecesResumed lessons in Jan. 2016 after 5 years of having no instrument!

My problem with Raisins and Almonds is in particular I think mostly is just the motivation to be honest :p I just don't like it. And there's some measures which is a bit had with an eight note on RH ending on a LH quarter note. It doesn't look that hard I just don't take much time to try to learn it really. Maybe give it 10-15mins and say, ill do it later.

He's got the whole world in his hands is a bit puzzling, doesn't look very hard but again the motivation to do it. You have several measures where you push the same key 3(?) times, well it says 4 but one is syncopated notes. So it seems a bit much of the same note again and again, but with very easy chords ill admit. Second problem is where I put my hands when changing keys, which is always a problem for I admit. Where to start, where I put my hands when changing keys is a big puzzle for me. ill get through it somehow. From G to C its probably a bit down the piano (to the "darker" tones.), and C to F slightly higher around same place as where G major starts.

I haven't really made any serious attempts on either I've just taken a look tried to figure out RH and LH just one fast time.

I take back my words about Raisins and Almonds, sat down 30mins and could do most of it but a bit too slow pace and not following dynamics properly. Though I imagine I could actually get it down tomorrow if I put in some time to polish it, once I tried to do it seriously it just seemed well easy. Maybe its cause its much like Scarborough fair in how it is with broken chords and not too much else to worry about. Its just putting the hands together at start timing the notes together which is the hard part but once practice a couple of times it comes together naturally.

So I hope next piece is as easy as that is, it doesn't look as much harder.

Why time goes so fast when I am the piano? I thought to myself, oh, I just sit down for a bit, and then go to bed, as feeling very tired. The next thing I know is it 1.5 hours later, and I still don't want to stop! But, couldn't keep practising the new bits all the time (I went up to page 83 tonight , but will be going back few pages tomorrow to polish off some pieces - it keeps me more motivated if I try to jump forward a bit and actually, it is easier the next day after some rest). Also, my left hand pinkie was starting to ache, so it needs it's rest for the night!!!

Well, I'm officially working on everything from Greensleeves through Amazing Grace. Greensleeves, Go Down Moses and Raisins and Almonds are almost perfected, although I do still have occassional stumbles they don't seem to be in the same place each time. I've about got the left hand rythm down for He's Got the Whole World. The Entertainer is coming along nicely and its amazing how much easier it is compared to when I tried it several months ago, still need to work on the speed though. Amazing Grace is also making nice progress except that darn arpegiated chord, lol. I'm so close to being done with this book, and I know it isn't a race, but there is a sense of accomplishment to move on to a new book that I so want to experience. So basically I've been focusing all of my practice on finishing the book, but need to get back into my scales, cadences, apreggios, Hannons and supplemental pieces soon.

I'm not expecting to get a pass on everything at my next lesson which isn't until October 14th, but just maybe if I keep practicing I'll get a pleasant suprise.

It sounds like you are doing great, Barb. Hope you get a pass on all of them.

I too want to concentrate on finishing the book. After all, I've been on it a lot longer than most. I started Greensleeves today - and I'm really liking it. It will be a great one to add to my Christmas repertoire.

So there is another arpeggiated chord waiting for me in Amazing Grace? I still haven't been able to play the one in O Sole Mio fast enough. In fact, I still have some problems with that piece, but I really needed to more on to save my sanity. I do still practice it though, as I don't like to give up on anything.

Raisins and Almonds is good to go it seems, occasionally an error near the end but doesn't happen all the time. So then its just He's got the whole world in his hands before ill try the two last songs, and I haven't even really tried The stranger yet. Maybe ill go back to it but I'm not sure if ill bother.

Having problems with the rhythm in he's got whole world for the left hand otherwise it doesn't look too hard but its gonna take some time to adjust to the rhythm especially where the syncopated notes are. Hopefully I won't be stuck on it cause I'm really looking forward to The Entertainer (maybe not the progress in learning it, but finishing it that I look forward to :P)

Ok, I've hit my first hurdle. Blow The Man Down... seems easy enough, play right hand, play left hand... put them together and oh goodness, I have two left hands! Any tips for co-ordinating that one?! Seems to work really REALLY slowly, but falls apart as soon as I add any amount of speed or fluency to it. Apart from lots of practice, are there any tricks for it?

@ Oz Lekeika: Don't worry, Blow The Man Down is considered one of the first significant hurdles in the book. Once you get it, you'll wonder what was so hard about it The only tip I can give you is...to count!

As for me, I'm still working on smoothing Amazing Grace. I showed my teacher a while ago the 'rough draft' and apparently it's good to go after I've smoothed out the hiccups caused by changing hand positions. She said we might start working on Book 2 next meeting (after I've passed Amazing Grace, of course). Hooray!!

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Finished: Alfred Bk 1 / Currently on: a bunch of pop & classical piecesWorking on: Czerny 599 and Christmas piecesResumed lessons in Jan. 2016 after 5 years of having no instrument!

Blow the Man Down - if you can get it to work slowly, then you are home free, as the speed will come eventually. But if you really can't get it hands together at all, here's what I did. I made a copy of the score, and I divided each measure into beats. That way I could look at which finger/fingers I had to use on each beat. I only had to use this sheet for a day or so before I was playing it correctly from the original page. It was a tough one, but it feels so good when you get it down.

I still play Blow the Man Down regularly I guess I'm afraid to forget how to play it LOL. Yes, it was the first real stumbling block which taught me a great lesson - patience and practice overcome all difficulties. Something that looked totally impossible to play one day, will come into place with enough time and lots of practice.

I'm polishing the Entertainer and working on Amazing Grace. It's really nice but I can't make it smooth enough. There is a long pause every time I'm changing hands position. I've also polished 2 pieces I was working on for my teacher and can't with to start another 2 she has picked for me. Not enough time to work on them all, but I'm loving it all.

Hi guys! This is my first post here, and I just wanted to say that this thread in particular is amazing and inspiring! I've always loved listening to music but never learned to play an instrument when I was younger. Not sure exactly why, it just never really came up and nobody in my family played an instrument. Never occurred to me, I guess. Well, recently my first child was born and my wife's family is pretty into music so my wife and I were talking about introducing our daughter to music... and it occurred to me, hey, why not learn an instrument?

So a few weeks ago I bought a keyboard and Alfred's All-In-One Book 1 and started learning. I've read through a bunch of this thread and there's a ton of great information. I really like that a lot of people here are self-teaching. I've seen a lot of negativity towards self-teachers in other threads on this forum that I was quite taken aback by, but seeing so many self-teachers succeed in this thread is inspiring!

So right now I am working on the second version of When the Saints Go Marching In. I'm practicing those F major chords with my right hand and having a minor struggle with it. No biggie, I am sure that a few days of practice will take care of that!

Mooshinator - welcome! I agree that this thread is inspiring. Everyone is very positive and supportive, having come to piano as adults, or re-discovering long lost desires and aptitudes. I also have drawn a lot of encouragement from it. Good luck with your piano learning!